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RALEIGH, N.C. -- Go ahead and chalk this one up to winning ugly -- there's no other way to describe it.

By their own admission, the Winnipeg Jets know they need to be much better and vowed that they will.

Stylistically, it was probably their worst game since Paul Maurice took over, as they struggled for much of the night to find their skating legs.

But at the end of the day, you don't get style points in the NHL.

And when you're trying to find any possible way to stay in the playoff picture, the only thing that really matters are wins and losses.

After Chris Thorburn found himself alone on the doorstep with 63 seconds left in the third period to pump home a pass from Jacob Trouba, the Jets eked out another one-goal win in a 2-1 triumph over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night.

Just like that, their hot streak continued.

"To be honest with you, it wasn't our best game. I don't know that we played to our strengths," said Maurice, who improved to 9-2 since taking over. "It's good to win a game when you're not necessarily at your best."

Thanks to the victory, the Jets improved to 9-2 under Maurice and 28-25-5 overall, pulling within two points of the Vancouver Canucks for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

"With winning comes confidence and confidence is a dangerous thing," said Thorburn. "Right now, we're building it and we're riding it. Hopefully, this continues for a long time. This (win) means we can still pull it out. But at the same time, we don't want to play games like that. We're a better skating team than we showed. But at the same time, we got the two points. We'll take that, but we'll be better next game."

One of the most important stretches of the game for the Jets came late in the second period, as they were holding a 1-0 lead, thanks to captain Andrew Ladd put in a rebound after a shot by Michael Frolik.

After Zach Bogosian was called for holding on the ensuing shift, the Jets were caught with too many men on the ice, leaving them down two men for 51 seconds.

Rather than give up the equalizer, the Jets got a pair of blocked shots from Toby Enstrom and another from Adam Pardy -- who stepped in front of a blast from Alexander Semin -- and successfully killed off both minors.

"We've got some big men down there that are willing to put their bodies in front of it," said Maurice. "We've been a pretty good 5-on-3 team all year. (Jets assistant coach) Charlie Huddy does a great job designing what we're trying to do down there, but at the end of the day Pardy blocked the (Semin) shot. That's a bomb and he puts his body in front of it and that's the difference."

While there was plenty of consternation in many circles about why the Jets weren't giving backup Al Montoya another start after brilliant performances against the Chicago Blackhawks and Montreal Canadiens, goalie Ondrej Pavelec rewarded the faith of the coaching staff by making 29 saves and improved to 7-2 since the arrival of Maurice.

Yes, he was aided by shots from Drayson Bowman and John-Michael Liles that rattled off the iron, but the only puck that beat Pavelec came at 2:42 of the third period when Riley Nash took advantage of a failed clearing attempt by the Jets' fourth line to even the score.

When the coaching change was made, Pavelec understood he needed to play better and that's exactly what he's done.

The Jets have now hit the midway point of this four-game road trip that leads into the Olympic break on a high note but you could easily make the argument that the stiffest tests are still to come -- with tilts against the Washington Capitals and St. Louis Blues still to come before Sunday.

Now is not the time for the Jets to start reading their press clippings and forget what got them back into this race.

Finding a way to close out the trip with a 3-1 record would still represent progress, but if the Jets can somehow find a way to capture the remaining two games on this swing, they would send a clear message to the rest of the NHL that they don't plan to go away during the stretch run after this latest surge.

As Advertised in the Winnipeg SUN

Jets brave the storm

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Go ahead and chalk this one up to winning ugly -- there's no other way to describe it.

By their own admission, the Winnipeg Jets know they need to be much better and vowed that they will.

Stylistically, it was probably their worst game since Paul Maurice took over, as they struggled for much of the night to find their skating legs.

But at the end of the day, you don't get style points in the NHL.

And when you're trying to find any possible way to stay in the playoff picture, the only thing that really matters are wins and losses.

After Chris Thorburn found himself alone on the doorstep with 63 seconds left in the third period to pump home a pass from Jacob Trouba, the Jets eked out another one-goal win in a 2-1 triumph over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night.